Detroit Tigers: Milestones and Streaks – Already

Victor Martinez has been a true asset to the Detroit Tigers. His ability to get hits and score runs is a vital part of the team. He left Comerica Park on Tuesday night with 997 RBIs.

This approaching milestone will make him the fifth Venezuelan-born baseball player to reach 1000 RBIs. He will share the honor with current Tiger Miguel Cabrera, former Tiger Magglio Ordonez, Bobby Abreu, and Andres Galarraga. Miggy leads the group with his 1449 RBIs as of publication.

Unfortunately, since the next two games are against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Martinez will not reach the magic 1000 tonight or tomorrow – unless he gets to fill in during the late innings. With his current .313 batting average, those RBIs should come sooner rather than later.

The other Martinez is also working hard at the beginning of the season. J.D. Martinez is currently sitting with a .440 batting average and a 1.121 OPS. In Tuesday’s game against the Pirates, he went four-for-five with a double and three RBIs. He has hit one home run, which was also against the Bucs, but on Monday night. He is the batting average leader on the Tigers’ roster with Ian Kinsler, Jose Iglesias, and Justin Upton in the next four spots.

With the impending milestone and the above-average batting average, the Martinez Bros. continue to cement their importance to the team. It is clear that V-Mart is feeling good and batting well from both sides. J.D. is also proving his value by getting at least one hit in every game in 2016.

As tonight’s game against the Pirates continued, J.D. did continue his hitting streak. His first hit of the night came in the top of the fourth. He hit a rocket to right field, where the ball landed fair and bounced over the fence. The ground-rule double was a beautiful shot, but unfortunately, J.D. did not cross the plate in the inning.

There is one more Tiger who is having a great opening to the season: Ian Kinsler. His current batting average after Tuesday’s game against the Pirates was .370. As of the Wednesday night game against the Bucs, Kinsler is currently leading the Tigers with three home runs. If it weren’t for the first game against the Pirates on Monday, Kinsler has had at least one hit in every game and in all but one of the games he has had two or more hits. It appears that Everyday Ian is taking off from where he left off in 2015. Like the Martinez men, Kinsler looks like his is feeling good and seeing the ball quite clearly.

One more Tiger reached another milestone in Pittsburgh. The big grand slam that Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit was his 100th home run. And, boy, was it ever a memorable one! Maybe he is the one who needs a backup?

With the improving at-bats from Justin Upton and Miggy, the top five of the lineup can easily be one of the best in the league.